Chapter 3: Marissa

October 15, 2009, Thursday
10:03 PM
Tribeca, New York

A kiss on her forehead triggered Marissa's eyes to snap open. She adjusted her vision to focus on her surroundings and search for the "perpetrator". She was on the living room couch with the TV showing some trashy reality show on E! A glance upward later, she found the culprit. Her husband was finally home and he looked defeated. Annoyed, too.

"Why are you squeezing yourself on the living room couch when there's a perfectly arranged king-sized bed in our room?", he asked softly with eyebrows drawn together. He wasn't mad. He was just concerned, which is typical Shane. On-camera, he may be a daredevil with melon-sized balls with all the crazy stunts he has pulled over the years but off-cam, he's a very sweet, laid-back guy, who's primary mission is to protect his loved ones. And tonight, the main target of such affection is his 6-month pregnant wife. She's carrying their third child, another son, and falling asleep on the couch could not be the most comfortable thing.

With voice strained, Marissa let out a reply while trying to get up from the couch. Shane was by her side instantly, one hand on her back, the other on her arm, assisting her up. "I was waiting for you."

"You could have waited for me in bed, you know?", came his sarcastic reply accompanied by a tight lipped smile. His eyes gave away the teasing mood though.

"And I like watching the Kardashians from the couch, which is the real reason why I'm here.", she hit back which resulted in him rolling his eyes. Already thirteen years married and they still banter like that. That's part of how they keep the relationship still fun and playful after all these years.

Once stood, Marissa was quick to return the concern. "Are you hungry? Did you eat?"

"Yeah, we ordered."

"How did it go?"

His lips went back to being a straight line. Instead of answering, Shane gave his wife a proper kiss on the lips before proceeding downward to plant another on her protruding belly.

"How was your day?", he asked once back to her level.

"Shane…", she tried.

"Did you throw up again?", he continued with a hand still on her stomach and the other on her cheek, ignoring her as if she wasn't trying to catch his attention. She's past the first trimester when morning sickness was normal but this morning, she wasn't feeling too well and was throwing up a bit before Shane had to leave for work.

"I'm fine; had crackers and fruits and juice the whole day so I'm okay. How did it go?" She kept her tone mellow as she's trying to remain patient with him.

Then his eyes went somber and that gave it all away. And his lips went tight for a third time in five minutes. Not that Marissa didn't notice his disposition when she first saw him tonight either. She just wanted to hear it from him. She wanted to hear everything. She'll never get tired of listening to him.

"I did it." It may be brief but Marissa knew exactly what he meant.

She looked at him with empathetic eyes, feeling his pain, his loss, his grief. "What did Vince say?"

"He accepted".

"Did you tell him everything?" Marissa wasn't sure if she was surprised that Vince accepted his only son's resignation from their family business just like that. Maybe she expected that the father would tell the son to think about it more, to sleep on it, to let the weekend pass first. She's sure that's how it happened in most companies when a vital executive submitted his resignation. How could Vince have accepted her husband's resignation in a matter of three hours? Were things really that bad already between father and son?

"Yeah," he replied dismissively, now eyes on everywhere except her. "I'm gonna head up and check on the boys."

She sighed and simply nodded. He didn't want to talk, which was fine because she knew Shane didn't do well with emotions. That's how she knew how it was a big deal when he first expressed his feelings for her some twenty three years ago. It was an unusual Shane moment and over the years, they'd resurface once in a while but those were very rare. There was their engagement, their wedding and the birth of their boys, but generally, he played things cool and light, no matter how tragic or celebratory an event was. Hell, she didn't even remember him being that mad when he found out how his father was having extra-marital affairs some years ago. She remembered being outraged when she found out her own dad doing the same to her mom and completely cut off all ties with the older man since her parents divorced more than two decades ago. She hasn't seen or heard from the older Mazzola since then. But not Shane. Shane and Vince remained to be best friends—the older McMahon was even the best man at their wedding.

He was heading up when she retrieved the remote to turn the TV off. After picking up a bottle of water from the kitchen, she made her way up the stairs as well. If he didn't want to talk, they'd just cuddle. She needs to let him know she's got his back. And front. And both sides. She's got all of him always 'til death do them part.